A Bite to Seal Their Fate
by Ripley95
Summary: f!Shepard/Garrus. - Garrus ends up in a precarious life-or-death situation, leaving Shepard to her own devices, desperately trying to make sure he doesn't die. It has unforeseen consequences. Kink meme prompt fill.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This was a kink meme fill. Prompt was:**

 **While trapped on a cold planet (post war) Shepard desperately tries to keep Garrus awake while their waiting for help. It's too cold for him, but mildly cold for her. She can tolerate it. Garrus, not so much. In an attempt to keep him from passing out, she does the only thing that comes to mind. (Other ways just didn't work!)**

 **Biting his exposed neck.**

 **Naturally, Garrus responds. They have sex, get rescued. And Shepard has no idea she mated herself to Garrus.**

 **Until Garrus can no longer wait to bed her again. Hidden truth comes out.**

 **+Redheaded (canon) Shep or undescribed so we can insert our fav SHep.  
+Awkwardness for Shep because Garrus keeps staring at her.  
+Primal Garrus but no "roaring" or giant penis.  
+Jealous Garrus if other men show interest before Shep knows their mated.  
+Garrus, normally submissive to her command decides he's tired of her oblivious attitude concerning their relationship**

* * *

Shepard had been strapped to a hospital bed for far too long. She had even been reunited with her crew for some time now, having hobbled back to Earth at a cripplingly slow pace thanks to the relays being down. They had all been ecstatic to see that she had lived, even if she was a little worse for wear thanks to those final moments in the war. No one was as happy as Garrus though.

Her entire crew had all stood at the memorial wall not so long ago, thinking there would have been no way that she could have lived, ready to pay their respects and say their goodbye's. Everyone except Garrus that is. He had been adamant to not include her name on the wall, and everyone else had been worried about him. They had seen how bleak things were at the end. No one had expected her to make it out of that hell, but Garrus had faith. He knew Shepard better than most. If anyone could have done it, it was her, and he had never given up on that stance.

He was glad to have been proven right. No one complained about all of the 'I told you so's' either, just happy to have their Commander and dear friend back.

They had all graced her bedside constantly, and helped her through rehabilitation. Even through the harder days, they had gladly stayed by her side, thankful for her sacrifices. She had lost a leg and some organs, and a significant amount of muscle mass, but science had come a long way. Robotic limbs were the next best thing, and with new advancements, you could hardly notice. The skin weave over top and the nerve connections were so lifelike, no one would be the wiser. She would be okay after a stint of hard work and rehabilitation.

But none had been more diligent with her care than Garrus. They had something special ever since the day they met, but even more so since their Cerberus days. Since before the Omega 4 Relay, where they had awkwardly stumbled through cross-cultural boundaries to have found something meaningful. They had been separated and left wondering where they stood with each other briefly while Shepard had been incarcerated, but the reapers had brought them back together, stronger than ever. Their reunion was perhaps the one good thing to come of that damn war.

They had made it through to the other side, somehow both alive, and he wasn't going to squander this chance. They had talked about a life. An after. Dreams of retirement and children. He wondered if those things were still on the table though. Shepard's eagerness and determination to get better surely weren't to be preparing for a life on the beach, drinking mimosas. She was slowly but surely becoming that soldier again. He could see plain as day that the military wouldn't be set aside so easily in her life.

But even still, he wasn't about to waste this chance to be with her. He would follow her wherever she went. He had even been one of the few of her crew members that still had family living after this war, and yet he had stayed by her side. It was a testament to what they shared together.

Castis and Solana would always be his family, but Shepard was his future. He wouldn't leave her. Not like this. Not now, after coming so close to losing her. For now, just knowing that his father and sister were okay would have to be enough, because he would follow Shepard back to the depths of hell if she'd take him.

Shepard's recovery had gone more smoothly than anyone would have predicted, but that's just who she was. Always breaking people's expectations. She had seen the repairs being done to the _Normandy,_ and had constantly said that she wanted to beat it back into the field. Of course she had fulfilled that particular destiny through hard work and genetic therapies, given the medical go-ahead by the doctor's who had helped put her back together. Admiral Hackett had reinstated her position as Commander of the _Normandy_ , and she was eager to get back out there.

So here Garrus was, waiting in her hospital room as she finished preparing herself in the bathroom, getting ready to go. Today was discharge day, and Shepard had been itching to leave this place.

Somehow 'stir crazy' had never managed to be a part of her vocabulary on a ship trapped in space. Being confined to her tiny hospital room and the short trek to the rehabilitation centre had left her restless and well acquainted with the term. She was more than ready to leave it behind and forget its existence.

Garrus had been patiently waiting, playing a game on his omni-tool, sitting with her bags adorning the top of her hospital bed, packed and ready to go when he finally heard the bathroom doors open. She was stunning. More vibrant than he had ever remembered seeing her. He figured it had a lot to do with finally getting out of this room for good, but probably even more so knowing that she had a future and a life to look forward to that wasn't a question anymore. He gave her a delighted mandible twitch as he gave her a once-over.

"Ready to go?," she asked with a beaming grin on her face.

"Mmm, I sure am," he said as he pulled her to rest between his legs, and hold her close for a moment.

She bent down to touch their foreheads together, moving her hand to the back of his neck, gently caressing the bottom of his fringe.

"So, where do you think they'll send us?," she asked, still keeping the contact between their foreheads, eyes closed and intimate.

"No idea. But it doesn't matter. I'll follow you anywhere," he said, hands on her lower back, just holding her there.

She finally backed out of their embrace, cupping his face gently, trying to be careful of his mandibles. "Good. Because there's still no Shepard without Vakarian, you know. I don't think I'd be anywhere near as excited as I am to get back back to work if you weren't going to be coming with me."

"Glad to hear it, Shepard. I'm not about to leave now that things are calmer and we can finally enjoy each other."

"Good to know," she said with a smirk. "Maybe we'll get to go somewhere tropical. I know it's not the same as retiring on a beach, but I'm sure we could find the time to check out the waterside or lay in the sand or something after the mission."

"That sounds perfect, Shepard."

"Doesn't it? We get to go back to work. Feel like we've done some good, and earn some nice time to take things easy afterwards. Just as long as it's nowhere cold," she said with a laugh. At least the chances of that were slim. In the grand scheme of things, most planets had moderate climates.

"Well okay then, Commander. Shall we go?," Garrus finally asked.

"We shall. It's been far too long since I've been on the _Normandy._ I think it's about time that we go home, isn't it?"

"I couldn't have said it better myself," he said, taking her bag, and leading the way.

They made their relatively short trek to the makeshift docking bay where Shepard took a moment to be in awe of her ship. It looked more pristine than ever before, save for the reveal from Cerberus. This time was much better though, still adorning Alliance colours, but now having had the time to be fully repaired and ready to go rather than being in the middle of a retrofit as they were attacked.

They finally boarded, and she couldn't help but think that the inside looked even better. There weren't unruly cables running everywhere, or crates haphazardly strewn in cubby's. Everything was prim and proper, and exactly how an Alliance run vessel should look. She liked it. She had never cared too much about the actual mess during the war, and even now it still wasn't about the lack of mess. It was about the fact that things were okay, and they had been provided with enough time to fix everything.

The reapers had been an enemy on such an unimaginably large scale that it was still hard for her to believe that they had actually see things finally being calm, and to have time in abundance was a rejuvenating new reality, but would take some getting used to.

She had taken some of that time to get reacquainted with everyone, and settled her new belongings in her cabin. They had gone through all of the pre-flight checks, and Joker had paged her to let her know that they were ready for takeoff whenever she was.

She made her way back to the galaxy map as she read her orders from the fifth fleet.

"Fucking NOVERIA?!"


	2. Chapter 2

She had been standing there in the cold, looking out the window of one of the old laboratories. It had started snowing again. Badly. It looked like a blizzard. She had her arms crossed along her chestplate, thumping her foot, annoyed and perturbed with a scowl on her face.

A week! It had been a whole fucking week of this shitty assignment already, and there was still no end in sight. She said nowhere cold, damn it! Of course she had only said it to Garrus. Why couldn't the Alliance be mind readers?

The one fucking threat left in this galaxy was pirates, and something about the equipment in this specific lab was too important to lose, and easily sought after for a quick buck. They had already killed off a few gangs looking for just that. Shepard had killed them with more ease on her conscience than most of her enemies, because it was thanks to them that she was stuck here.

The only good thing about this job was that Garrus was here, constantly wanting to make things better. And he did. This assignment would have been insufferable without him.

She heard footsteps gracefully coming up behind her. She didn't even bother looking back, still having her little tantrum.

"Why the hell did I agree to this?," she huffed out.

Garrus came up behind her, and encapsulated her in his comforting grasp. "Because it's what you do. Your sense of duty has always been too strong to deny what's expected of you."

She squeezed herself out of the hug so she could face him. "Garrus," all but with a glare, she said, "We're basically a team of glorified guard dogs."

"That may be so, but this is where they need us right now. You've done the impossible, and rid this galaxy of the reapers. Everyone is so at peace with each other right now that soldiers aren't needed for much more than guard duty. Isn't that a good thing?"

She huffed out a sigh of defeat. He was right. She had already known it, otherwise they wouldn't be here still, but sometimes it was nice to hear about _why_ they were still here, and Garrus had reminded her of that. "Would it really have been too much to ask to have been somewhere tropical though?," she said with a laugh.

"Apparently," was all he really offered on the matter, sympathising with her. She hadn't even had anything resembling a break before their departure. She had just wanted to get right back into the thick of it, and then was met with her worst fears. A boring job in the freezing cold.

"Well hey. At least we still have each other, and I've finally managed to set up that surprise," Garrus continued.

That finally seemed to make her perk up a bit. "Yeah?"

Garrus had been wanting to take her on a proper date, but her strict schedule for physical therapy, and marksmanship and hand to hand combat testing had left them with little time to do much before leaving Earth again. They had spent their time rekindling on the _Normandy_ on their way over here, but that was never private enough to truly enjoy themselves, save for when they were in her cabin. He had wanted to do something nice for her, and he had finally thought of something before their rotation out today.

He took her by the hand and led her to one of the back corners of the loading bay they were in. He had set up a picnic behind some crates so she hadn't seen what he was doing this whole time. He had arranged some of them to use as seats and a makeshift table. While they were on a mission, they usually had to rely on ration bars, but he had somehow managed to sneak in some of their favourite staples from the ship, with two thermoses, and a little battery powered lantern in the middle of the table. There was also a nice comfortable blanket off to the side lying on a snowbank, which she had assumed was for cuddling afterwards. It was all very sweet.

She just stood there with a warm smile on her face, being taken aback by the gesture, wondering how she ever could have gotten so lucky.

"I know what you're thinking," Garrus cut in. "That we should be on the job right now, and not fraternizing, but I've set up a perimeter. There are sensors at the entrance, so we'll know if anyone's coming."

"You think of everything, don't you?," she said with a smirk. "But let's face it. That blizzard means no one's getting in or out of here any time soon. I think we'll be fine."

"I suppose you have a point. But it's nice to have the peace of mind."

"It is. And thank you, Garrus. This is exactly what I needed right now," she said as she went over to him and gave him a chaste kiss in thanks. Kissing had never been his thing, but he had always reciprocated to the best of his abilities knowing that it was important to her, even if he did feel like his mandibles just got in the way more often than not.

"I'm glad you like it. Here, come sit down," he said, as he moved to sit on one of the crates, and pat the one next to him, indicating for her to come join him. "I made you a sandwich and got some help from Traynor to make you a fruit salad. It's just canned stuff. All of the fresh fruit was gone already."

She just looked over to him now, hardly being able to believe how much thought he had put into this for them.

"That's fine Garrus. It's more than I ever would have expected. Thank you," she said, finally sitting next to him.

They sat down and enjoyed their lunch, finally getting caught up on the little things going on in their lives. Garrus had been left with a lot of questions about where exactly they stood. They were clearly still together, that being obvious from both sides, but he wanted something more serious. He was too scared to rush her into anything though, knowing that she was probably adjusting to life again, so they kept their conversation simple.

He did mention that he wanted her to meet his father and sister, but that it could wait for whenever she was comfortable, or for sometime that they were already headed in the direction of Palaven. She seemed interested, and Garrus took that as a good sign.

After they had finished their food, Garrus had finally moved to the last things on the table. "And now for the best part."

"I was wondering what was in those," Shepard said, curiously.

"The red one has coffee in it, just the way you like it. The blue one's mine."

Shepard looked at them with an intrigued smirk, finding her playfulness in the moment.

"Mmm, why don't we pop some Levo/Dextro antihistamines so it doesn't matter. That way we can do other stuff too," Shepard said, seductively, as she moved to straddle his lap. The meds weren't technically meant to be used so they could eat each other's food, only to make sure that they wouldn't be poisoned if they had accidentally ingested some, but Shepard was more interested in the other benefits of the drug.

"I like where your head's at, Shepard, but we're still on the clock."

She just huffed out in defeat. He was right. She was just bored of the job, enjoying her time with him and had gotten ahead of herself. Even with the sensors there as backup, that likely wouldn't leave them with enough time to get their clothes back on should they go off right in the middle of a steamy lovemaking session.

"I wouldn't say no to cuddling on the blanket though," Garrus offered in exchange.

"Okay," she said with a reluctant smile.

She slowly made her way off of him just in time for them to feel the ground move beneath their feet. They heard cracking noises like the earth was breaking apart, and hissing and popping coming from beyond the walls. The power had gone out rather excitingly, with sparks flying as wires snapped in the midst of structurally unimportant walls crumbling. That last part was a bit of a blessing in disguise, otherwise they both might be trapped under a pile of rubble right about now.

The shaking had stopped, and everything had calmed down. Shepard and Garrus could only just barely see each other, thanks to the little lantern that Garrus had for mood lighting.

"Are you okay?," Garrus finally asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You?"

"I think so. What the hell was that?"

"An earthquake probably. Perfect timing. Right in the middle of a fucking blizzard," Shepard said, her disdain for this assignment easily making itself known yet again.

"Yeah. We should probably walk the perimeter. Make sure everything's okay."

"Good idea," She agreed.

They both started walking, checking on the damage, each going in opposite directions of the rather large loading bay.

They turned their suit lights on, and Shepard brought out her M-5 Phalanx, mostly for its extra flashlight as well, but it didn't hurt to have a weapon drawn either. There was crunching beneath her feet. The source of the noise became obvious as she checked the wall.

"The windows blew out," Shepard said loudly enough so that Garrus could hear her from the other side of the room. That meant that there was another potential entryway for assailants, and also that the blizzard was no longer being contained to the outside, as she could see a small pile of snow already starting to form and blow in, with an added breeze chilling the air. It was already cold in here before, and now this just made it worse.

Garrus had been checking the doors on the opposite side. None of them were working. That shouldn't have been surprising though, being power operated. It did mean that they couldn't retreat further into the building though. Come to think of it, it also meant that they couldn't go through the main entryway anymore either.

"Doors are all locked," Garrus reciprocated from his own observations over on his side.

They both finished their walk-around and met up at the front where the main garage door was, which is also where Garrus had his sensors set up.

"Looks like your sensors are busted too," Shepard said.

"They shouldn't be. They were on a generator," he said, scanning his flashlight over the equipment, following the power cord back to its source.

It had been knocked over in the quake, and was now lying under a small pile of rubble. Garrus crouched to examine it. It had been dented, but still looked like it could be functional. Shepard just pointed her flashlight at it so Garrus could see what he was doing.

"If we can get this working again, maybe we could attach it to one of the doors. We can move further in where it's warmer, or get out if the shuttle can come get us."

"Sounds like a good idea. We could probably get out of one of the windows if we really had to though."

"I guess you're right, but it couldn't hurt to have it at least," he said as he was already opening up the side panel trying to figure out what was wrong. He had reattached some wires, and tried to examine it as best he could in his limited light.

"Well let's give it a try, I guess," he said, as he hesitantly pressed the button to restart it.

A shock had immediately gone up his arm and jolted throughout his body. It was bad enough that Shepard had seen the blue light as he started gurgling out in pain, and rushed over to knock him away from the source.

"Jesus, Garrus, are you alright?!," she asked in a panic, as she gave him a once-over.

He blinked and coughed for a minute, as he slowly started to sit up, and Shepard offered him her hand.

"Yeah, I think so," he forced out. "Is it at least working?"

She looked back at the offending piece of equipment, "All that effort, almost dying by electrocution, and it sure doesn't look like it." Shepard said, as she kicked it for emphasis.

"Great," he muttered out, brushing himself off a bit. "Does it suddenly feel a lot colder in here to you?"

With the windows open and the new breeze, it had chilled the loading bay a bit more, but his suit should have been keeping him warm still. She turned back around to look at him and make sure he was okay. As she ran her flashlight over him, she could see smoke coming from his back.

"Garrus? I think you're on fire."

"What?!," he asked in a panic as he turned around for Shepard to see, and trying to turn his own gaze as far back as he could to see what she was talking about.

"Shit! I think it's your battery pack from your environmental controls. The shock must have shorted it out!," she yelled as she hurried to help him take off his chestplate.

At least it was something she had a lot of experience with now, and they got it off in seconds. She then ran and threw it out the nearest window as hard as she could. Not even a minute later, they both saw it burst into flames, before exploding in a significant ball of fire.

Shepard was left huffing from the adrenaline rush of it, shocked for how close Garrus had come to being in that. After everything they had been through, he had almost been taken out by an armour malfunction. It's not like they weren't built to sustain electrical shock. It wouldn't have been the first time that he had been hit with it thanks to their battles together, but he had always been fine before.

She turned back to Garrus, utterly relieved that he was okay. He seemed to be in just as much shock as she was, still staring out the window at what could have been his fate. He was a shivering mess in nothing but the remnants of his armour and his undersuit which wouldn't have been nearly enough to protect him from the elements in here.

"Shit."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I try to make my works here more G rated, but just couldn't do it for this one. So warning: sexy times ahead.**

"Shit," she uttered out under her breath again. One threat dealt with, only to have another one immediately after. If it wasn't going to be a quick death by fiery explosion, it was going to be a long drawn out one by freezing.

At least Garrus should be fine for a little while, but they needed to figure something out to make sure he didn't get hypothermia. Maybe she should have thrown his armour into a corner of the building. Then they might at least have a fire in here. Probably still not the best idea, even if it was too late already anyway.

"Hey, you okay?," she finally asked, wanting to make sure he was alright.

He just moved his gaze back to her from out the window.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess so," he said as his mandibles clattered against his face, still in disbelief at how close he had just come to death.

"Let's get you back over to the crates. We'll get you wrapped up in that blanket. Maybe you'll start feeling better."

He just nodded his head as Shepard led him over there. She put the blanket over his shoulders, and sat him down on the crate. She was glad he had the forethought to get one of the waterproof ones, that was slick with melted snow on one side but nice and clean and soft on the other side.

She opened up his thermos for him, pouring some in the cup. "Here, drink this. It might help you warm up."

He graciously took it, and started sipping it slowly, still shivering under the blanket. He was suddenly thankful that he hadn't decided to spike them with alcohol, knowing that in the long run it would have made him freeze faster, even if it might have made him feel better temporarily.

"Did we bring that first aid kit? It should have one of those emergency blankets in there too."

"Yeah, it should be over by the entrance somewhere," he said.

Shepard ran to go look for it. Anything to provide more insulation for him couldn't hurt. She just hoped that he hadn't already lost too much body heat for it to help. She knew the temperatures were dangerously low in here already for not having environmentally controlled armour, and every second wasted was probably chipping away any chance that Garrus had to get out of this.

She managed to find the kit relatively quickly and ripped open the package that had the blanket in it on her way back over to him. She had taken the other blanket off momentarily to wrap this one around his body, and then put the waterproof one on over top again, already shaking uncontrollably.

Shit. It wasn't enough. She hadn't really expected it to be, but she had hoped it might at least help. It didn't seem to be doing much of anything though.

She paced back and forth for a second, as she used her earpiece to try to get in contact with Joker.

"Joker, come in."

 _::Whaddya need, Shepard?::_

"There's been an accident. We need immediate extraction."

 _::Yeah, I'm afraid that won't be happening. The Blizzard's too strong right now, Steve won't be able to control the shuttle down there.::_

"Shit," she huffed out as she continued pacing.

 _::Everyone okay?::_

"For now. It's a long story, but Garrus's armour malfunctioned, and things just got a lot colder in here. I don't think he can wait very long."

 _::Ah, Shit. Okay, I'm going to have everyone on standby for extraction, but I don't think the storm is supposed to pass for another couple of hours.::_

"Can't you come with the _Normandy_?"

 _::There's nowhere to land, Shep. Sure I could control it down there, but it would be pointless if I can't even get anywhere near you with the mountains everywhere.::_

"Goddamnit," she said a little more angrily this time.

 _::I'm sorry, Shep. There's not much I can do.::_

"No, it's not your fault. Just have everyone on standby and come as soon as you're able, do you hear me?"

 _::Yes ma'am. Over and out.::_

She just stood there for a second, trying to think of anything, coming up with nothing. All she could do was be there for him, and try to keep him awake and talking.

She finally walked back over to the crates, and sat beside him, putting her arm around him. With her armour on, she wouldn't have been able to give off any of her own heat this way, but she figured at least it could be comforting to him.

For the first time, she was pissed that they didn't have the same body shape so they could just take turns regaining heat in her armour, but as things were right now, she didn't want to risk taking it off unless this became dire so she could be there to be conscious and help him should things get bad.

"So… you missing the Mako yet?," she finally asked, trying to keep things light.

He laughed at that, still shivering away. "For what? Just to have made it this far, only to go out in one of your joy rides? No thank you."

She laughed at that too. It was funny, but truth be told, it could have saved them a lot of trouble. She loved Steve and his shuttling skills, but the Mako could have made it out of there in this blizzard. Or at the very least, it would have had its own environmental controls to keep them comfortable if they had been locked in here under the same circumstances.

She wasn't going to dwell on the what-ifs right now though.

"Do you think the Alliance will allow us some shore leave after this?," she laughed out questioningly.

"I don't know, Shep. They're your military."

"Hasn't stopped you from being on their payroll for a while," she said with mirth.

"Heh. That doesn't mean that I understand them. But why?," he asked through clattering mandibles.

"I guess I've just suddenly realised that we deserve a vacation. I don't know why the hell I was so rushed to get back to work."

"Oh, I don't know... I was enjoying it right up until this mess," he said with sincerity. He was spreading his words out more though, starting to speak more slowly, but he was at least still following the conversation, and even joking a bit. That being said, Shepard could see where this was going, and she didn't like it.

"So where would you want to go?," she asked, trying to get him to be the one to keep talking.

"Mmm," he grumbled out, starting to slouch forward, as he shivered more. "I still like the sound of that beach," he struggled to get out through his clattering mandibles. "Maybe Virmire… That way, we could see… Ashley… again," he said before finally slumping against Shepard's shoulder.

Well that wasn't good. Clearly he was worse than she thought. His memory was becoming confused, or his reality was distorting. He was losing strength, and seemed to be on the verge of losing consciousness. This wasn't working.

"Garrus?!," she asked, as she shook him gently.

"Hmm?," he said as he tried to straighten himself out a bit more to look at her, but it was clearly getting hard for him to keep his eyes open.

Things had quickly become dire. It was pretty cold in here, and that breeze wasn't doing anything to help. She figured she hadn't noticed just how cold it was thanks to her own armour still keeping her safe, but it seemed to be enough for Garrus to be declining more rapidly than she had expected.

"Alright, Garrus. You need to try to stay awake for me, okay?," she basically yelled at him to startle him out of his stupor as she went to the pile of crates. She started to arrange them into a bit of a cubby to at least try to prevent any more wind chill from making things worse.

He had slouched over more, still shivering, but only barely. He was starting to lose motor functions. She quickly grabbed his arm to help him walk over to the little safe haven she had just created, keeping the blankets wrapped around him as best she could before helping him lie down on the ground.

He was at the point that he barely seemed to notice Shepard unzipping his under suit and helping him out of it. He kept opening his eyes slightly, but only because the movements from Shepard's actions were just inconveniencing him from his inevitable sleep.

This was bad. It was time to take the situation into her own hands. Help wasn't coming. Not for a while, and Garrus' organs were going to start failing if he continued to decline like this. She needed to start sharing her own body heat in order to prevent that. She had wanted to wait as long as possible before going down this route to make sure she didn't end up dooming them both to a state of unconsciousness before they could be rescued, but it was time to intervene. She figured if she started to get really bad, she at least still had the option to go back into her armour to regain some heat if she needed to, but Garrus was out of options.

She quickly stripped down to nothing and arranged the blankets to encapsulate them as much as possible before resting on top of him gently. He was definitely cold to the touch, even under the blankets, still shivering, but only barely.

"Garrus?"

He just let out a small groan.

"Is that any better? Come on, talk to me."

"Uh huh," he struggled out, with slitted eyelids, still finding it difficult to keep them open.

It wasn't enough. She needed to do something. She looked him in the eye, as she slowly trailed her hand down his torso. She grazed her fingers gently over his sheath, trying to coax some desire in him. These were extenuating circumstances, but a nice tease had never failed her before, and being active wouldn't hurt in the heat making department, not to mention keeping him conscious for a bit longer.

Not even a stir. She shouldn't have been surprised really. "Hey. Maybe now would be a good time to see what those human-turian babies might look like," she said as seductively as possible through her worry, trying to rouse something in him, not willing to give up that easily, as she continued to gently stroke her fingers along his sheath.

He let out something that almost sounded like a heartfelt laugh, and she swore she saw a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, but even still she could see the life draining in him as his colours dulled.

She relinquished her hand, because it was just starting to feel like she was trying to take advantage of him. It was a good attempt, but it wasn't working.

She just clung to him then, trying to situate herself in a way that would give him as much of her heat as she could while she tried to think of something else.

She could feel his shivers coming out even less violently than before, and she was pretty sure it wasn't because this was helping.

"Shepard," he whispered out, and she sat up slightly to look him in the eye. "I feel… like I need to say…"

"Garrus," she tried to interrupt, thinking she knew where he was going with this.

"No. I lov-"

"No! Don't you dare say that to me right now! You did not live through the reapers just to give up now, do you hear me," she basically yelled at him, as she sat up a bit more, straddling his lap. "You tell me that when we're out of here, and you're good as new."

He could feel the darkness beckoning. He wasn't going to listen to her. If this was his last chance, he was still going to say it, despite her sentiments.

"I lo…," he whispered out as he lost consciousness, not being able to finish his thoughts.

"Garrus?"

No response.

"Garrus?!," she said again, as she began to shake his entire body violently, trying to wake him.

Still nothing.

She took her right hand, and slapped him across the face as hard as possible then. It would probably leave a welt, and on the unblemished side of his face too. She would have thought it was worth it if it had worked, but it hadn't.

"God damnit, Garrus!," she huffed out, as she just lay on top of him again, wanting to make sure he lost as little heat as possible.

She nestled into him, feeling like she wanted to cry for the first time in as many years. She couldn't believe this was happening. The astronomical events that they had survived through only to end up here.

She definitely regretted not taking things slower now. She shouldn't have rushed back into work. They should have taken some time for themselves. It may not have prevented their circumstances, but she suddenly felt like she hadn't appreciated Garrus as much as she should have, just assuming that he would be around for whatever their future had to offer now that the war was over.

She rested her head in the crook of his neck, taking in his scent, looking longingly at the pulsing underneath his flesh. He was still alive, but for how much longer?

That was enough to give her an idea. She had already tried slapping him, but that was only one short burst of pain, and possibly not enough to bring him out of his stupor. Pain itself still had potential to bring him out of it. She almost hesitated, because she already felt bad enough for slapping him, and if this didn't work, she didn't know if she'd be able to forgive herself, knowing how much this was about to hurt.

But then she thought that she didn't really have much to lose in the matter. If he lived through this, she already knew that _he_ would forgive her. That was enough to know this was worth a shot.

She quickly reached over to the satchel on her leg plating that she had thrown off in a hurry and grabbed her meds. She was going to bite him, and she didn't want to go into shock from an allergic reaction of accidentally ingesting his blood on top of everything else.

She popped the pills, and swallowed them quickly before steeling herself for what was about to happen. She situated herself back on top of him, holding him for comfort, not only for him should this work, and he wake up in searing pain, but also for her, not wanting to put him through this. It was better than doing nothing though.

She inhaled deeply as she eyed a spot that looked safely away from his main arteries right at the base of his neck and took the plunge, sinking her teeth deeply into his flesh. She felt him squirm. It was working. She bit down deeper until she heard a whimper. Deeper still, until she heard a gasp as Garrus was trying to sit up weakly with the shock of it all.

Shepard took some of her weight off of him, placing her hands on either side of his torso to steady herself, her breasts practically in his face. He just looked at her in awe, seemingly totally aware and conscious again, almost as though the cold was nothing anymore. There was a small trickle of blue blood coming from the corner of her mouth that he become fascinated with. The pulsating, searing pain on his shoulder could only mean one thing. She had marked him. Bonded them. He couldn't believe it.

Shepard felt the warm trickle coming down from her lips and wiped it away with the back of her hand. Instead of cleaning it off, it just spread itself all over her chin. The sight of what that meant brought out a hunger in him, even in his weakened state.

"Garrus?," she questioned, wanting to make sure that he was okay after all of that. She could barely believe the change. She hoped that the bite would have woken him up, but she never would have expected it to work to this degree.

Without answering, he wrapped his arms around her with more strength than she would have thought possible, bringing her back down to rest on top of him, before he rolled them both over, wanting to take charge of the situation.

He licked away the remnants of his blood on her chin, and tugged on her bottom lip with his own, sucking on it gently as much as he could with the awkward fit of their mouths to clean off what was still there, trying desperately to show his appreciation for what she had just done for them.

Shepard suddenly felt his hardness pressed low against her pelvis, and she looked at him questioningly as he finally pulled himself out of the kiss to look at her, filled with adoration.

"Gees, if I knew you would have liked that this much, I might not have waited so long," she said jokingly, mostly for the sheer reaction that it had elicited.

"Really?," he gasped out, excited to learn just how much she cared about him.

She just looked at him seriously, caressing the right side of his face, not wanting to irritate the other side that had already started to swell slightly. "I'd do anything for you, Garrus. If it was really that important to you, of course I would."

He didn't even care to talk anymore, suddenly overflowing with the need to show her how much he loved her in this moment. He recaptured her lips the way that she liked, finally appreciating the gesture in his own right, and not only for hers.

He started grinding against her pelvis, his need becoming overwhelming as instinct started to take over. He was grateful that Shepard seemed to reciprocate his feelings as she helped guide him inside of her, never relinquishing their hungry touching of mouths, and caressing of tongues, except for the moment he slid home, and she gently flung her head back as she let out a pleasurable moan to the satisfying stretch.

She was happy to suddenly be partaking in this experience for pleasure rather than just helping Garrus sustain some body heat.

And speaking of, he almost felt hot to the touch. The difference was night and day, as she caressed her hands over his back. She was scared that he was on his deathbed barely a few minutes prior, but now he was so invigorated and full of life, spurring her on with his thrusts, still safely under their blankets.

Each movement he made, found new and pleasurable depths, eliciting hitched breaths and a delightful tingling sensation over her flesh. He joined his forehead to hers, hoping that it gave Shepard the same loving connection as it had for him. He closed any other gaps between them, resting his forearms on the ground beneath her back as he held her body more tightly to his own, wanting to lose himself in her in every way, and to completely feel as though they were one.

Their slight change in position had left little to be desired, his need fueling her own, but their new proximity and a subtle tilt of her pelvis had met her with perfection. the ridges of his sheath and the base of his manhood rubbing against her clitoris, pushing her towards absolute pleasure.

She let out another moan with the new sensation, and Garrus quickly swallowed it into nothing more than a whimper through their rejoining of lips.

His thrusts had become more needy as he could feel the overwhelming sensation of his nearing climax. Shepard's panting, and the tightening of his arousal with hers was making her own impending orgasm well known, and it was making it harder for him to hold back.

But he wasn't done yet. Garrus wanted to reciprocate her gesture from earlier. The one that woke him up, and showed him that she would always be there for him in his time of need. He kissed and nibbled down her neck, trying to find the perfect spot.

"Oh, Garrus," she forced out before letting out a moan of pleasure as she started fluttering around his length.

He had wanted to find the spot before she found her release, but figured he'd better hurry before she brought him over the edge with her.

"Shepard, I'm going to-," he started, before she cut him off.

"It's okay, Garrus," she said, trying to reassure him that she had taken her meds. She assumed that he was going to say that he was about to finish, thinking that he would be worried about her going into anaphylactic shock if he didn't pull out.

It was too late anyway. Shepard could feel him pulsating inside of her, as he let out a silent grunt of what she thought was pleasure, when in reality it was at his own discontent for not being able to fulfill his side of their union.

She just grabbed his head gently, and brought his forehead to her own, knowing how much he loved that, helping him ease out of his climax, also being able to appreciate the intimacy that the gesture held in this moment. Garrus just assumed it was to comfort him for his failure to reciprocate her bonding.

 _::Shepard? Shepard can you hear me?::_

She immediately held her hand up to her ear, trying to calm her breathing slightly to at least hopefully make sure that it wasn't obvious what she had been doing mere seconds ago.

"Joker, is that you?"

 _::Yeah. Man is it good to hear your voice. We've been trying to hail you for the last half hour. Steve's on his way down to you. He should be getting close. Kaidan and Liara are with him.::_

"Oh thank god. We'll be ready, Joker. Tell him to park around the side of the loading bay with the windows. The power's out, and the doors are all locked."

 _::Will do. Glad you're okay.::_

"Thanks, Joker. See you soon."

 _::Sure thing. Over and out, Commander.::_

Garrus had been calming down throughout their conversation, still inside of her, looking dejected. Or maybe he was beginning to feel the chill again, now that Shepard's sweat was adorning the front half of his body.

Shepard definitely took that to be the latter.

"Okay, big guy. We should probably get you dressed quickly and wrapped up again before we head out there. You going to be okay?"

"Yeah," he mumbled out, finally relinquishing himself from her hold. He slowly went to dress himself, fumbling with the clips and zippers, as the coldness had begun to ravage his body again.

She had put her own under suit on with ease, barely having lost any of her own heat thus far, and quickly went to help him with the rest of his own suit as soon as she was done.

Just as she was finished wrapping him up in the blankets again, she saw the shuttle landing outside of the window.

She rushed over to it, and helped Garrus climb out, shivering more easily now that he was directly exposed to the elements.

Liara and Kaidan came running over, checking to make sure that everything was okay. Shepard directed them to grab whatever remnants of armour and supplies there were still lying around inside the building, as she took Garrus over to the shuttle to get him warmed up again.

She helped Garrus sit down on one of the longer benches, before joining him and offering her lap as a pillow. She draped an arm over him as he lied down, trying to provide as much comfort as possible as he warmed up. His shivering began to slow, and it was a comfort this time unlike the last when it just felt like the life was draining from him.

Liara and Kaidan made it back to the shuttle as quickly as possible, wanting to get out of here before the storms picked up again, also knowing that Garrus would probably need medical treatment. They got themselves settled as the shuttle took off.

Kaidan was sitting right across from them, and he was looking at the pair, simply trying to make sure everyone was okay. He noticed something off about Shepard though.

"Hey, uh, Shep. You've got something, right about here," he said, pointing to his own chin, trying to show that there was some of Garrus' blood still left on it.

"Oh. Thanks," she said as she licked her thumb, and rubbed the general area that Kaidan had been indicating towards.

Shepard felt a grumbling reverberating from Garrus' chest, and she almost wondered if he had fallen asleep, but as she looked down at him, his eyes were locked on Kaidan's.

"Hey, you okay," she asked, gently as she rubbed his arm.

"Hmm?," he questioned, his brain needing to catch up with what she had just asked since he had been so focused on Kaidan. "Oh yeah. I think I'll be okay," he said as the words finally made sense, and he grabbed her leg that his head was resting on a little more possessively than before.

Kaidan gave Shepard a questioning look, wondering what that was about. She just shrugged at him, hardly knowing herself, as she continued to rub Garrus' arm for comfort and added warmth. He was bound to still be out of it after all.


	4. Chapter 4

Half an hour later found Garrus sitting in the medbay, staring out the window at Shepard and Kaidan talking about something, looking rather intimate if he had anything to say about it. It almost looked like he was comforting her, and Garrus was starting to feel upset that Dr. Chakwas had separated them.

She had all but rushed Shepard out the door, saying that she needed peace and quiet to give him a thorough checkup, and she didn't need the patient's significant other hanging around to do back-seat doctoring. Shepard knew that what she really meant was, 'I'm probably going to be doing scary tests, and reading off scary results, and potentially doing scary treatments, and therefore I don't want you around to see this first hand.' Shepard probably would have rather stayed anyway, but she had always respected Dr. Chakwas' domain.

Shepard was the one responsible for commanding everyone, but Chakwas was responsible for saving them, so Karin was perhaps the only person on board that Shepard would ever take an order from just to get out of her way and let her do her job.

He almost felt fine now that he had the shuttle ride to warm himself up in. There was still a slight chill to his bones, but he had regained feeling in his extremities, and he wasn't shivering uncontrollably anymore. He was merely uncomfortable at this point, but Dr. Chakwas had insisted on giving him a real checkup before allowing him to do anything else.

Karin ordered him to unwrap the blankets so she could give him a proper scan, noting that there had been signs of early organ failure, but thanks to their advanced treatment options, and the damage having been minimal, she could just hook Garrus up to an IV and reverse any of the issues with a quick drip.

"Alright, I'm going to need you to strip now, so I can put the IV in and make sure you haven't gotten any frostbite."

Garrus was still just staring out the window, watching his mate and her ex-lover, wondering what must be so damn interesting for them to still be lingering around together that he didn't even hear Chakwas.

"Garrus?," she asked, as she rubbed his arm slightly to get his attention.

"Huh?," he finally said, being brought back into the present.

"I need you to strip," she repeated, as she went on about how the IV fluids would also help bring his body temperature back up, and how important it was to treat any frostbite. He was still barely paying attention to her though, more interested in what was going on outside the medbay. The windows had been set to privacy mode, so they couldn't see in, but he could see out.

Garrus followed her orders, and started disrobing his undersuit before sitting back down again. That's when Dr. Chakwas got a good look at his shoulder.

"My my, that's quite the injury. Did that happen down there just now?," she asked as she prodded the bite mark, acting rather surprised at this new development, noting that it was so deep that it was still bleeding mildly.

Her examining fingers made it easy for him to snap back into reality, as it had reinvigorated the pulsating pain at the base of his neck. It was probably the only part on his body that was actually hot right now, still searing from the newness of it, and he loved it.

"Yeah. It might just be what saved my life."

Dr. Chakwas just looked at him, with a genuine smile on her face. "She's a lucky woman, Garrus."

"I think I'm the lucky one."

She nodded, agreeing with the sentiment. "Well, perhaps you're both the lucky ones then," she said as she took a glob of medi-gel out and slathered it on the bite mark. "Mouths are full of bacteria though, and you don't want that to fester. Put this on it three times a day, and it should be fine. Come back to me if it gets worse, or doesn't clear up in about a week."

"Will the scar still be there?"

"Oh yes. Medi-gel is amazing at what it does, but it's not a miracle worker. You'd need the scar removal therapy for that if you wanted it."

"No!," he said a little too enthusiastically.

"Not to worry, Garrus. I wasn't about to force the treatment on you. I figured you'd want to keep these particular markings," she said with a wink.

She continued to examine him while his drip was going, finding a few patches of early signs of frostbite, but nothing too serious. She told him to use the medi-gel on those too, before letting him know that he could get dressed again, as she gave him another quick scan to check on the progress that the IV meds had provided. She waited for him to be fully clothed again before turning the privacy mode off on the glass, and giving a gentle knock, signalling that it was okay for Shepard to come in again.

"I'm happy with the progress you've made already, but I'd like to see you again in the morning to make sure, and possibly run another treatment," she said as Shepard walked in.

"I'll make sure he comes to see you, doc," she said with a smile, happy to see that Garrus seemed to be doing much better.

"I'll hold you to that, Commander. Also, make sure he ices that swollen mandible, and I don't want him in the field for the next few days."

"Yes ma'am," Shepard said with a nod, respecting her decision.

Chakwas nodded in acknowledgement, "Alright then. Garrus you're good to go after you've had a minute to rest and feel good enough to do so. In the meantime, I'll just let you two have some privacy," she said as she started to walk out the door. She stopped in front of Shepard though, and added, "Congratulations, Commander," before exiting the medbay.

Shepard just squinted at that questioningly, thinking it was a bit of an odd thing to say about the situation, but otherwise not thinking too much of it before joining Garrus.

"So, how are you feeling?," she asked, voice still somewhat laden with concern.

"A little cold still, but all in all, pretty good considering the circumstances."

"I suppose that's all you can really ask for," she said as she sat beside him on the examination table.

"Mmm," he muttered in agreement. "I saw you and Kaidan outside. You seemed to be pretty deep in conversation."

"Oh. Yeah. We were trying to decide what to do with the assignment now. Technically we're still supposed to be here for a few days until they can re-open. Liara and Javik are down there for the current rotation, but we were worried about the structural integrity of the building, and were discussing whether it's worth it to stay on the assignment or not. Ultimately, we decided that there's still a job to do though,and even if it means we'll just be doing perimeter sweeps now, we have to stay and see it out."

"Ah. I suppose you're right. That makes sense. I don't know though, you seemed a little more intimate than just talking about the mission," he said, warily.

Shepard smiled at that, looking like she was reminiscing. Garrus didn't like the way that it made him feel.

"Hmm. Yeah, he also gave me a bit of a pep talk I guess you could say. I'm not sure how much you actually remember, but things got kind of scary down there. There was definitely a moment that I thought I might be losing you. He just wanted to make sure I was okay after all of that."

Garrus just looked down to his hanging feet then, sorry that he had put her through that. Shepard noticed immediately that he seemed to be taking this out on himself.

"Hey, this wasn't your fault. It was a freak accident," she said, as she grabbed his hand tightly in hers.

He shook his head. "You're right. I know you're right, but I never wanted to put you through anything like that. Especially not now, when we should finally be getting the chance to start our lives together."

That brought a smile to her face. "Well you'll be fine now. Let's not dwell on what could have gone wrong, okay."

Garrus just nodded at that.

"So, what do you say we go back up to the cabin and get some rest then, huh? I should be on the next team to take a shift now that we're down a man, and you're still recuperating, so it's probably best for both of us right now. We can cuddle and get warm under the blankets."

Garrus grasped her hand more tightly then, "Sounds perfect," he said as they finally stood up to leave, hand in hand.

As they exited the medbay, Shepard told him to wait, while she went over to the freezer. Kaidan was there. They were talking again, and Garrus watched as they shared another intimate moment, beginning to feel jealousy bubbling up through his chest. He couldn't place his finger on it. Everyone knew that he and Shepard were serious. Kaidan was his friend. Even though she and Kaidan had a past, he had never questioned their intentions ever since confirming that she and Kaidan were done when he finally joined the _Normandy_ again during the war.

What was it about now that was making him so unsettled? He didn't really have much time to put any thought to those feelings as Shepard nodded her head in his direction indicating that she was needed elsewhere to Kaidan after having grabbed some ration bars and an ice pack.

Kaidan just nodded and waved at Garrus, seeming like he was happy to see that his friend was okay. Garrus barely responded with a tiny nod as Shepard came to rejoin him. They walked to the elevator, with Shepard barely being any the wiser to his uncharacteristic staring and poor attitude as he looked back and all but gave Kaidan a glare.

After a relatively short sleep, the next morning had found them both in the mess hall, eating a quick breakfast before Shepard had to be headed out again for the next rotation. Garrus had joined her, not wanting her to have to eat alone before having to rush out again. He didn't particularly need the rest anyway, since was feeling much better, and Chakwas would want to give him a check up sooner rather than later. He could always go back to have a nap after Shepard was gone, so he was more than happy to join her now.

They had both taken up a nice lighthearted conversation when Kaidan finally joined them.

"What are you doing up so early?," Garrus asked.

"I'm the other half of the ground team today," Kaidan replied, wiping some of the sleep from his eyes, and taking a sip of his coffee.

That made Garrus go rigid and somewhat silent as he stared at him. Hearing that he and Shepard would be alone together for hours on end were making his feelings of jealousy bubble up again, and he didn't like it.

The three of them continued to eat their breakfast in peace, though Garrus found himself becoming more and more withdrawn throughout the conversation, not seeming able to take his eyes off of Shepard. His gaze trailed down her neck, and he felt nothing but remorse for not being able to fulfill his side of their bonding. He was drawn to her lips as she licked them while she spoke to Kaidan. Wasn't that supposed to be a sign of attraction? Humans could still be so confusing for him sometimes. Then there were the ever-so-subtle dimples she created from the smile that she made any time he said a joke or something interesting. They were features that had Garrus totally enamoured, but they were all features not directed at him.

He wasn't sure why that bothered him so much. It's not like she was particularly ignoring him, or being anything other than just friendly with Kaidan. He didn't think that he had the right to feel threatened, but he did.

He was lost in thought, still staring at her mouth, when Shepard finally broke the silence.

"Hey, Garrus. You've been a little quiet. You alright?"

That made him blink away the haze of his jealousy. "Oh, uh, yeah. I guess so. I think I'm still just feeling a little bit out of it."

"Okay," she said, seemingly satisfied with the answer. "Maybe you should go see Chakwas then. She wanted to give you another check up anyway, and I told her I'd make sure you went."

"Don't worry. I will. But I'd like to see you off first. I'll have plenty of time to get checked out after you're gone," he said, knowing that she was going to have to be leaving right after breakfast anyway, not wanting to waste time doing that while they would be separated for most of the rest of the day afterwards.

"Okay. I'm going to hold you to that. If I hear from Chakwas that you bailed, there's going to be hell to play," she said playfully.

That elicited a small chuckle out of Garrus.

"I'll go, don't worry," he reassured her.

"Well good. I guess it's about time we start getting ready though," she said, looking over to Kaidan now, who nodded in agreement.

Shepard took a quick pit stop in the head, before making their way down to the loading bay where Steve was already waiting for them.

Garrus helped Shepard prepare her weapons, and put on her armour. The entire time he helped her get dressed, he couldn't help but keep his eyes off of her, silently adoring her features. Especially her neck, which in its bareness had become something of an obsession over the last half a day. He couldn't even see it now that her undersuit and armour were covering it, but he could picture it. Creamy and delicate, waiting for his mark.

He was beginning to wonder why she wasn't more upset with his unreciprocated side of the gesture. He supposed it was just her way, tending to be patient in matters of the heart, especially with how their relationship had played out thus far. She had waited for him to make the first move and be comfortable during their Cerberus days after all. He hoped that was the only reason at least.

She finished up, and gave Garrus a chaste kiss before she headed for the shuttle. He saw her and Kaidan sharing another laugh at something before the doors closed, and he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable about the whole situation, not entirely knowing why.

He spent the next few hours seeing Chakwas, and then just mindlessly wandering around the ship. In reality his visit with Chakwas had taken less than 20 minutes, so he had wasted a lot of time just pacing around, trying to put his finger on why he had become so jealous all of a sudden.

He realised that even with as much time as they had together since she had bonded them, that they hadn't even had a chance to talk about it yet. She didn't seem to be as excited or happy about it as he would have expected under normal circumstances. He was scared that she might have been disappointed in him, or that maybe she was regretting her decision.

The more time went on, the more he dwelled on what it meant that she hadn't wanted to discuss how their lives had changed. Ever since they had their serious talk on top of the Presidium, he hadn't worried about their relationship. She had agreed to be a one-turian woman, and she had seemed so enamoured that he hadn't questioned their future. But something about her apathy towards the loving gesture that she had performed had rubbed him the wrong way. It had planted seeds of doubt that were beginning to overtake his thoughts.

He tried to do some of his calibrations to forget about it. That was almost always a successful therapy to help lose himself in something when his mind was going to dark places. Besides Shepard, it was probably one of the only things that helped get him through the war, but it wasn't working now.

He kept picturing their time together on Noveria. How she had bitten them, and then they had the most meaningful sex of his life. Then he pictured that she was now down there - alone - with her ex. That she might have been regretting her decision so badly that she was now reconsidering her options and reliving their amazing time together with Kaidan. Maybe she was looking for something a little closer to home after all. He had to quickly shake his head at the thought. He was just driving himself crazy over nothing.

The only thing he felt like he could do is wait for her to get back so they could finally talk about it. He wasn't going to be happy until they did, so he just paced.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Warning - more sexy times in this chapter.**

* * *

Garrus found himself in the loading bay a good half an hour before Shepard and Kaidan were even expected to arrive, just eagerly waiting for her.

He suddenly didn't know what to feel when the loading bay doors finally opened though. He was excited for her to be back, and they needed to have this conversation that he had been fretting over for the last few hours, but he was scared about what she might have to say, having created this whole narrative in his head that she wasn't happy about what had happened.

When the doors to the shuttle opened, it looked like Kaidan had his arm resting on the small of Shepard's back as they were waiting to depart. She had a smile on her face, like she didn't mind the contact. Almost flirtatious even? It was doing nothing for his confidence.

Shepard jumped out of the shuttle, and her smile grew even more when she saw Garrus. That was at least a good sign. Hopefully. It wasn't exactly enough to change Garrus' attitude though, as she came over to greet him warmly, he was somewhat standoffish as he reciprocated her hug.

"Hey, you okay?," she asked, concern flooding her voice. Apparently he'd been more obvious with his confused feelings than he had intended.

"Uh, yeah. Do you think we could go talk though maybe?"

She looked at him somewhat confused as she started unclasping her armour for Steve to check over and put away before her next rotation.

"Of course. I'll always make time for you, but do you think it could wait a bit? There was a group that hit us right before we left, and I used my biotics more than I had planned on. I'm famished."

"Oh, yeah, I suppose there's no rush. You should eat," he said, still sounding somewhat dejected.

"Have you eaten yet? Come join us," she said, holding his hand, still picking up on his mood.

"Yeah, okay," he agreed as he finally started to help her get out of the rest of her armour.

She stayed in her undersuit, not even bothering to take a shower first, she was so hungry. Kaidan seemed to be in a similar situation so he also joined them again for meal time.

Garrus hadn't eaten since breakfast either, but did nothing more than pick at his food and shuffle it around his plate as he watched her eat across the table from him. Liara had joined them too since she wasn't on the ground team right now either.

They laughed and enjoyed their time together, and she kept smiling at Kaidan still, but worse than that now, was Liara. ' _She used to have a thing for Shepard too, didn't she?,'_ Garrus tried to remember. She kept placing her hand on Shepard as they joked and had fun, while he wallowed in self pity.

The jealousy was starting to boil over. He found himself becoming mad. Feeling as though Shepard was just rubbing her oblivious attitude right in his face. Like she wasn't willing to acknowledge how their relationship had changed. Almost as though she was embarrassed, and just wanted to sweep it under the rug.

He had finally had enough after Liara held Shepard's hand as they laughed. He wasn't even paying attention to anything they had been talking about, but he was sick and tired of Shepard treating him like he was barely there, or like he wasn't important. Especially when he felt like whatever they had might be slipping away with her barely seeming to care.

He finally slammed his fork on the table, looking at Shepard, practically seething now, entirely fed up.

Everyone just stopped what they were doing as they stared at him, wondering what happened.

"Garrus?," Shepard finally questioned.

"Can we have that talk now?," he finally asked.

She just looked between all of her friends at the table apologetically before answering.

"Sure," she offered simply before getting up, and heading to the elevator, leaving her tray and mess behind her.

Garrus barely even acknowledged the others before he ran after her.

They took the elevator ride up in silence, Shepard didn't look too pleased. Garrus couldn't say that he felt much different.

She waited until they were safely in her cabin before speaking.

"What the hell was that about, Garrus?," she asked, more softly than the words had warranted. She wasn't happy with his attitude, but she was going easy on him, knowing he had been rightly out of sorts thanks to recent events.

"What do you mean, 'what was that about?' I'm sick of your attitude ever since we got back. Do you really not have anything to say about what happened?"

She looked at him, completely dumbfounded. To her, she didn't think she was acting differently at all. If anything, maybe more happy than usual, but she figured that should have been a good thing.

"What do you mean?," she finally asked, confusion lacing her words.

He finally just pulled his shirt away from his neck, acknowledging the bite mark.

"Oh. That. To be honest, I kind of thought you liked it with the way you had acted after it happened. I guess I figured we didn't really need to talk about it," she finally said, looking down at her feet, realising she should have apologised sooner. She did still feel bad about it, with how serious of an injury it had become. "For what it's worth, I am really sorry. I just did what I thought I had to do to get you back."

He felt like his heart was shattering with those words. His worst fears were coming true. She practically just admitted to this being nothing more than something to save his life at the time, not caring at all about what it had meant.

"You're sorry?," he barely managed to whisper out, feeling like his throat was filling with lead.

Shepard never expected for him to react so poorly to this. She knew that she had hurt him, but he was acting like she had betrayed some kind of trust. She had always figured that him living through that would have been enough for him to forgive her for it, but apparently she was wrong.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Garrus. I never wanted to hurt you. You can't imagine how hard it was for me to want to do that to you, but I thought I was losing you."

"So that's the only reason you did it?," he asked, emotion flooding his voice.

She had never heard him like this before, and couldn't believe that she had managed to hurt him so deeply with this. It was a bad injury, but it was only a bite mark after all. She didn't understand.

"Of course it is. I never would have wanted to hurt you willingly," she said, finally starting to plead with him, trying to get him to calm down.

"Do you even love me anymore?," he keened out.

That had taken her aback. Sure she had bitten him, but this was starting to seem overblown, and it was starting to make her angry. She didn't regret doing something to save his life.

"Of course I love you! I love you more than I've ever loved anyone, Garrus. How could you even ask me that?!"

"Are you kidding?! You're making it sound like this was all a big mistake."

She just stood there with her arms out in complete confusion, finally realising that they might be having two different conversations.

"Alright, I think we need to take a step back here. We seem to have our wires crossed somewhere."

"What's there to be confused about?! You bonded us and now you're regretting it!," he finally yelled out, entirely upset. "Bonding isn't something to be taken lightly for turians, Shepard! How could you?!"

She looked at him, mouth completely agape in shock. "I did what now?!"

Well he wasn't expecting that reaction. It was enough for him to completely change his attitude now too.

"Uh oh," he said simply as he relaxed his posture. "Uhh…"

"No no no no no, you need to explain this to me. What did I do?"

"Here I was thinking we were over most of the cross-cultural issues," he said, finally understanding everything a little bit more.

She just stared at him expectantly, not particularly caring for the sudden lighthearted attitude.

He just let out a sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck, wondering how to begin.

"Yeah, so... turians bond themselves by marking their mate with a bite. And uh, you just happened to bite me in the exact spot that we tend to do that."

Shepard let out a regretful sigh. "Oh my god. Garrus," she said, sounding completely apologetic. "I'm so sorry. I never-"

"Hey, hey. It's alright. You didn't know," he said, immediately coming to her, wrapping his arms around her comfortingly. "Honestly, this explains a lot. I was wondering how you could have been going on with everything as though nothing had changed. It was starting to make me worried."

She just buried her head in his chest, still upset with herself. At least he was being really sweet about it.

"Yeah, but Garrus… this is really serious. I never would have done something like that without talking to you if I had known what I was getting myself into."

He just stroked her hair, trying to be reassuring.

"Well, accidental bondings aren't exactly common. They're supposed to be for life, but there are ways to have them annulled in extreme circumstances."

"Oh," she said softly, just melting into his hold. "Is that really what you want?," she asked, hesitantly, finally gaining enough strength to look him in the eye again.

He shook his head lightly. "No. I understand now that you were just doing something to try to save my life, but the moment that I came to and I realised what you had done - well. I think that might have been the happiest moment of my life, even with the circumstances that were surrounding it."

That made a soft smile spread across her face. "I know I was excited to start working again, but that doesn't change the fact that I want a life with you, Garrus. I think I was just struggling to find meaning in a galaxy without war, and I felt like I had to find some kind of purpose out here again. I'm sorry if any of that made you feel like I was trying to run away from you, because let me tell you, I never regretted it more than when you were struggling to stay conscious down there. I don't regret biting you because I'm pretty sure that was the only thing that kept you alive. I may not have planned for things to turn out quite like this, but what if I said I don't regret bonding myself to you either?"

"I'd say that you just made me the happiest turian alive," he said, looking at her with more sincerity than he ever would have thought possible. It made the most beautiful smile spread across her face, as he touched their foreheads together gently.

"So what does this mean?," she asked quietly.

"That we get to live happily ever after?," he said, teasingly, which had elicited a small laugh from her.

"Well that's great, but I mean what happens now?," she said, finally standing up to look him in the face, curious about what this actually entailed.

"Well nothing much has to change really. Once we finish the process, you'll have legal rights as my partner. We can always do the human equivalent too if that's what you want, but I mean it. Nothing much changes. We get to live out the rest of our lives the same way that we would have otherwise, but now we get to do it a little more closely."

She smiled at him before bringing him into a kiss, never in a million years having expected this conversation to go down this road, but insanely happy with how her life had just changed.

"So how do we finish the process then?," she asked, coyly.

"I have to mark you now too," he said, grazing his talons along her shoulder lightly. "I was trying to on Noveria, but I think I was so out of it, that I just couldn't do it in time. Maybe that was for the best, since you probably would have been confused, and probably not expecting it at all."

"Yeah, that could be, but it also might have saved us a lot of trouble, getting the confusion out of the way right at the beginning," she chuckled.

"Maybe. But maybe I'm glad things turned out this way now. I can't honestly say that it was the best way for this to have happened, but it's kind of involuntarily made us talk about it. Now we both know for sure that it's what we want."

Shepard still had a slightly apologetic look on her face. "Yeah, well I'm still sorry to have more or less forced it on you though."

"You didn't force anything, Shepard," he said, as he brushed the hair out of her face with both hands, before placing them on the back of her neck, pulling her closer to him to capture her lips in a gentle kiss.

Shepard opened her mouth slightly more, prodding her tongue along his upper lip, gesturing her need for more. He granted her access by reciprocating, allowing their tongues to meet, and their tastes to linger. Their kiss hadn't stayed gentle for long, as it fueled their desire.

They had fought, and made up, and their lives had suddenly changed. They both felt the need to show each other what it had all meant.

Garrus slowly started guiding them towards the bed, still on the upper part of her cabin, not having managed to get much farther than the door in their haste to have their conversation. He slowly started unzipping her undersuit as she sauntered backwards, never relinquishing their kiss.

He gently slid it off of her frame, leaving her to kick off the remnants in a fit of haste as she simultaneously unhooked her bra, and threw it somewhere haphazardly. He picked her up as soon as she was free, signalling for her to wrap her legs around his waist. As she did so, he cupped her backside, and grabbed her furiously, resulting in Shepard hitching her breath.

He rubbed his blunted talons along her newly exposed flesh, tugging at the fabric of her panties. He had half a mind to rip them off in his need, but this wasn't like the last time they had sex. It wasn't a fumbled attempt to keep him alive. This was their gesture of what they meant to each other without the haze of confusion or miscommunication over it. He would take his time, and show her the appreciation she deserved.

He walked them down the stairs slowly, placing her delicately on the bed, allowing him a chance to undress himself as Shepard went to their nightstands to get their meds. As much of a mood-killer as it may have been to have to interrupt things, it would have been a bigger mood-killer if they had been left convulsing and gasping for air if either of them had accidentally ingested anything. Their love was worth the inconvenience.

Garrus joined her on the bed, recapturing her lips momentarily, before he trailed his way down her body. He nipped at the base of her neck, noting the perfect spot for his mark. It was so tempting to just do it now as his teeth softly grazed over her flesh, but he knew this was going to hurt her, and he wanted to make it as pleasurable and meaningful as he possibly could to ensure that this was a good experience.

He slowly trailed his way down through the valley of her breasts, cupping her left one with a gentle firmness as he rubbed his thumb over her nipple. It drew out a hitched breath of pleasure, spurring him onward. He trailed his kisses and nibbles lower, pausing at her belly button briefly, lapping his tongue at it in a tease of what was to come. He went lower still, pausing at her panties, inhaling the sharp musty scent that was stronger than usual thanks to her having just come back from a mission. It was intoxicating, making it difficult for Garrus to want to draw this out, but he would.

He started to peel them off of her with a tantalizing pace, lightly scraping his talons down her legs along with the motion. She just watched him, desire flooding her eyes, pupils blown wide in anticipation. As soon as they were off, he threw them to the side, not even caring where they landed.

He gently lifted her right leg as he nibbled it down to her core, resting it over his shoulder as he made his way closer to his destination. When he reached it, he spread her legs open more widely, and she reciprocated in kind, granting him access.

He eased his tongue between her already wet folds, prodding it at her entrance teasingly, before running it up to meet her nub. He ran soft circles around it, steadily increasing the pressure as he went, captivated by her writhing, begging for more contact. It made his own arousal hard not to gratify, as he began grinding into the mattress to alleviate some of his need.

Her desperate panting was making her impending orgasm well known. He didn't want to be a tease for her today, but he also didn't want her to finish like this, so he eased out of the motions, much to her discontent as she let out a frustrated groan.

He didn't leave her waiting for long though, making his way back up to her quickly, sloppily recapturing her lips with her slick juices still on his chin. He slid himself into her easily, as she had readily been waiting for him.

He picked up his thrusts, both of their needs already close to their precipice, as he lowered his hand to start running his knuckle over her clitoris, bringing her closer to the edge again.

Garrus lowered his head to her shoulder, finding that spot he had already sought out, and nuzzled into her affectionately. He could feel her getting close, but he needed to know that she was prepared for what was about to happen.

"Are you ready?," he asked.

She didn't have any words for him and just nodded her head furiously, which he could feel with his proximity.

He was patient, waiting for her to be pushed over the edge so he could make it the perfect moment. He quickened his pace, and finally felt her release, taking that moment to make his mark. His teeth sunk into her flesh, and she let out a soft scream of pleasured pain. He kept his teeth in her for a moment to make sure the mark was good, finding his own release easily now, knowing that they had fulfilled this commitment to each other.

He relinquished his hold on her neck, trying to be as delicate as possible, seeing her blood trickling onto the sheets beneath her as he raised himself up.

Shepard gently grabbed him on either side of his face to get him to look at her instead. He was immediately captivated by her enamoured smile. Any lingering doubts of the last day had completely washed away with the way she was looking at him. It was as though she was penetrating his soul into a bond that could never be broken. He had never felt more sure about anything in his life than in this moment, completely and utterly so in love that it almost hurt.

He bent down and lingered in one last kiss and grazing of foreheads before he finally got up. He knew Shepard was perfectly capable of walking and taking care of herself, but he picked her up, and carried her over to the bathroom where he started running the shower. He wanted to take care of her the same way that she had taken care of him, even when she hadn't known the significance of her actions.

He watched her as the water gently eased over her frame. She didn't even flinch when it hit her shoulder. He knew it must have stung, but she had gone through much worse in her lifetime, and it hadn't phased her in the least. The realisation almost made him sad, knowing the things that she had dealt with throughout her past. But this was the woman he loved. Strong in every facet of her life, and it was admirable.

He knelt down to help her clean away the remnants of his seed that was now trickling down her legs. He steadily held her still with one hand on her hip, and washed with the other. She rested her weight on his shoulders, as she caressed the underside of his fringe, appreciating the gesture of being taken care of for once.

He stood again to check on her wound, happy with how it was being washed out, and left her to finish rinsing off the rest of the grime from the day.

He quickly dried off and put some pants on in order to go prepare everything so that she could be comfortable after she was done. He changed the sheets now that it had been stained with her blood, and got out her pyjamas so she could have something to change into after her shower. He made his way back to the bathroom, having picked up a tube of levo medi-gel and some gauze from his stash of supplies that Chakwas had given him for his own injury.

He set her pyjamas aside and noticed that she was already finished, with a towel wrapped around her torso, looking at the bite mark in the mirror.

"How does it feel?," he asked as he walked up behind her, looking at her eyes through the mirror.

"It stings, but it's okay," she offered with a slight smile.

"Well here, this will help," he said, showing her reflection the medi-gel in his hand.

He then went to unscrew the lid and get a decent glob of it in his palm before he gently rubbed it into her wound. He didn't take his eyes off of it, making sure he was thorough, and Shepard didn't take her gaze off of him, with a softness adorning her features now.

She felt a little stupid for how this had happened. She even felt a little ashamed for not having learned about such an important part of his culture before now. It was one more thing to blame on the reapers, the war leaving her with little to no time to actually put into learning anything about it. Nevertheless, she was also insanely happy. She had already pictured themselves here sooner rather than later. She might have preferred that they had discussed it first, and she hated that she had left Garrus in a haze of self doubt, but things had worked out for the best in the end.

He finished with the medi-gel and put some gauze over it, taping it to her skin. He did one last check to make sure that it was secure before he finally met her eyes again. This is when he realised that she had been watching him intently. They both admired their matching marks now, bandaged and healing. Their symbol of how they were now forever tied together, and the prospect offered nothing but elation to the either of them.

That's when she finally turned around.

"I love you, Garrus," she said as she brought him down to touch their foreheads. "There's no Shepard without Vakarian."

"And now I'll have your six in everything that we do," he said with a chuckle, bringing her into a proper hug, nuzzling his head on top of hers, towering over her slightly. "I love you too, Shepard."

They stayed like that for a moment, before Garrus finally continued. "Here, I brought your clothes. Why don't you get dressed, and then we can just relax on the bed and try to let the medi-gel start working."

"That sounds perfect," she said, as she moved to get dressed.

They made their way back over to the bed, and Garrus waited for her to get in before laying down beside her. He put his arm beneath her head, so he could wrap it around her torso, holding her tightly up against his chest.

"Feeling any better yet?," he asked, as they settled.

"It's starting to. You being here helps."

"Good, because there's nowhere else I'd rather be."

She just hummed in agreement momentarily, before feeling herself beginning to relax.

"We're definitely taking that vacation as soon as this assignment's done now. I don't care what Hackett has to say about it."

Garrus let out a chuckle at that. "You won't hear any complaints from me."

That was enough for them both to find comfort in one another, contemplating what the rest of their lives now held in store for them. Garrus could feel Shepard's breathing calming down, assuming she was getting closer and closer to sleep when she suddenly stiffened.

"Oh shit!," she exclaimed.

"What is it?," he asked worriedly. The abruptness of her change in attitude had him concerned.

"What are we going to tell our parents?"


End file.
